10/20/06 More ag groups support I-933

Washington Ag October 20, 2006 The Board of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers and the Growers Clearinghouse are the latest agricultural groups to have voted to support Initiative 933. They join ten other ag organizations including the Washington Cattlemen, Dairy Federation, Sheep Producers and Christmas Tree Growers. The Farm Bureau property rights initiative seeks to have government regulators cooperate with landowners first, but if regulations are adopted and they damage property use and value then government must compensate owners. Stevens County commissioner Merle Ott told an I-933 rally in Spokane yesterday, that's what the state constitution requires anyway. Ott: "It's time to be bold and tell your neighbors that 933 is good because it simply does what they are already supposed to be doing." As for the claim of opponents of I-933 that the measure will cost government eight billion dollars, State Representative Joel Kretz told that rally, if that's true then it's even more important to pass the initiative. Kretz: "Because where is it coming from. If it costs eight billion that means they have already taken, or they plant to take, eight billion from you as individuals. Their argument is essentially that government can't afford an eight billion dollar hit but private land owners can. I have a simple message to them. That is don't take it in the first place." The rally was followed by a tractorcade through downtown Spokane. I'm Bob Hoff.